Father brings his kids to work - in an air traffic controller tower

[draggar]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/03/05...ex.html?hpt=T2

I think this is being blown way out of proportion.

- You never hear the full tapes - how do you know if the father didn't OK it with the pilots before letting his kid at the microphone?

- I am sure the father was right there with the child (maybe even with another headset?) so if anything did happen the parent could hop in.

- All the clips are from take-offs. I would think this is the least dangerous part of the procedure. I didn't hear any landings and most of the clips are the child telling pilots that they're cleared to take off. I haven't heard any clips that pertain to landings.

This has been on a big subject on the morning show I listen to. People think that the kids could have started to yell things that they shouldn't have - some pilots called in and did say that if the child did say something out of the ordinary, they would ask for clarification (they're not as mindless as many people think).

People are also comparing this to the Russian flight where a pilot let his kid into the cockpit and the child turned off the autopilot, causing the plane to crash. This is no where near it. The child is not in control of the plane, it is only a director. If the pilot doesn't like what he hears, he will stop.

[fireheart17]

The Advertiser (Adelaide's newspaper) covered this.

Apparaently the father was right next to the child and was feeding the child instructions. The child didn't deviate from said instructions at any time.

[Nyoibo]

Makes me think of all the times my dad let me call in when we were either flying to Seattle or around the islands, he's right there, ground would clarify that he was there and telling me what to say. They keep saying people should spend quality time with their kids, this was awesome for the kid.

[Dreamstalker]

From what we heard on the local news, you'd think the kid was bringing planes in. I agree, it's blown way out of proportion. The FAA should have their collective heads examined; the supervisor obviously had a handle on things and nobody deserved to be suspended. WTF are they going to investigate?! The part of the tapes that we heard it did sound like the kid was "scripted".

"Security breach" my ass...now if an unknown kid had just been able to randomly wander up there willy-nilly (which is what the initial lead-in made it sound like) I could understand their reaction.

I know I would have been over the moon at that age to even set foot in a tower.

[Boozy]

I don't think anyone's safety was at stake here, but nevertheless the incident shows remarkably bad judgement on the part of the air traffic controller. How could he not realize how seriously people take this kind of thing?

[fireheart17]

My uncle is an air traffic controller. He's brought his eldest daughter (who would be about 9/10 by now) to work on occasion when she was younger. She'd only look out for planes however, not actually give out instructions to pilots.

[powerboy]

It did sound scripted to me. People needs to get their heads out of their asses.

[Vagabond]

People take everything a little too seriously sometimes. Give the child some time with his parent. I think it's a good idea. Heck, maybe the kid likes planes? And from the posts I've read, the child was more than adequately supervised and the pilots didn't complain. So, what's the problem?
<sarcasm> OMG! It's a plane, with passengers - people's lives were at stake! </sarcasm>
Yes, and the parent was right there, the pilot in the plane is well aware, a co-pilot also, and more than likely other Air Traffic Controllers and maybe Tower Director. How many people does it take to be adequately supervised? There are some adults out there that need that much level of supervision sometimes.

[elsporko]

This was a stupid thing for the parent to do. Even if the kid was supervised at all times if anything went wrong, even if the air traffic controller couldn't do anything to stop it, that entire airline would be out of business after the lawsuits.

[Dreamstalker]

Like Draggar said, the pilots would clarify if they didn't think something was right. It sounded like they were having fun with it and the only confirmations the child was allowed to give were takeoffs. One of the tapes confirmed that the father (and probably the supervisor as well) was patched in with another mic and so could step in if needed.

[linguist]

besides which, why would the airline be sued for traffic controller error? air traffic controllers don't work for the airlines, they're federal employees.